Case Closed Short 3: The Swing Band Murder Case
by AkuRoku18
Summary: Conan, Ran, and Sonoko see a famous American swing band in concert, and they invite them to dinner! What luck! However, dinner suddenly turns cold when one of the band members is murdered. It's up to Conan to find the murderer! Long oneshot, yeah. DETECTIVE CONAN :D


**Here's another Case Closed short! :D**

* * *

**Case Closed Short 3: The Swing Band Murder Case**

There was a huge crowd in front of Tokyo Tower. In front of the large tower was a stage. A banner hung above the stage that read, in English, 'The Swingin' Top Hats.' Among the crowd were Ran, Sonoko, and Conan, waiting for the show to start. The girls had dragged the little detective along against his will. _Why do they always do this to me?_ Conan thought grudgingly. _Even when those two knew me as Shinichi Kudo, they still insisted I come with them everywhere._

"Ohhh, I can't wait to see them!" Sonoko squealed. She waved the program in Conan's face and said excitedly, "Micheal Dawes is the best singer in America! EVER! You could learn some style and class from him, ankle biter~"

"Uh… sure," Conan mumbled. _What does __she__ know about class?_ "Ran-nēchan, do you really like swing?" he asked.

"I think it's a nice style of music. I don't understand most of it because the majority of it is in English, but the singer's voices are beautiful~" Ran answered. "Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin…" She and Sonoko sighed dreamily.

"Such pretty songs~" Sonoko giggled.

Conan laughed sheepishly and thought, _What swing otakus. _

The crowd started cheering wildly and Sonoko called, "It's starting! It's starting!" Conan tried to see over the taller people by jumping, but he was too short.

_Dammit… being short is so annoying! I may not be super into this concert, but I at least want to watch._ Conan felt himself being lifted into the air as Ran picked him up and put him on her shoulders.

"It's okay, Conan. You can watch from up here," Ran said, smiling. Conan felt his face turn red and he nodded blankly.

_Okay… so being short may have some perks. But other than sitting on Ran's shoulders… and taking baths with her… and sleeping with her… and spending most of my time with her… but other than that! Being short sucks. _Conan looked at the stage were the band had started playing. A young man with light brown, mid length hair was center stage. He wore a dark blue suit that complimented his dark blue eyes.

He smiled charmingly and said in a smooth voice, and in perfect Japanese, "This song goes out to all the ladies in the audience today~" A loud squeal erupted from the women in the crowd. The band started to play and he started to sing in English, but Conan tuned it out temporarily.

_I wonder what Dr. Agasa is inventing today… probably some piece of junk that'll break…_ Conan looked up at the stage again. The band had started to play a faster song and the man center stage snapped his fingers along to the beat. He was singing about… something or other. Probably love. _Hmm… this Dawes guy is actually really good. I thought he would just be some wannabe Frank Sinatra impersonator, but he genuinely has talent! Unlike tone deaf little old me. _

* * *

The concert ended after a couple hours and the majority of the crowd cleared out. It was later in the afternoon and the sun was hanging lower in the sky. Sonoko and Ran were fangirling about the concert and Conan was wandering near the stage. He found his way backstage and bumped into somebody. He looked up and it was Micheal Dawes. "Oh! Are you lost, kid?" Micheal asked in English at first. Then he said in Japanese, "Sorry, you probably don't speak English, huh?"

"No, I can speak English!" Conan said in English, making sure that he sounded as not fluent as possible.

"Oh? How old are you, kid?" Micheal asked, also reverting back into English.

Conan counted on his fingers. "This many!" he said cutely, holding up seven fingers. Micheal laughed and ruffled Conan's hair.

"Did you like the show?" the singer asked in Japanese. He figured it would be easier to talk to the little boy in his native language.

"Yeah! You're really good, mister. My friends, Sonoko and Ran, they're big fans of you!"

"Really? I'd like to meet them, cool guy~" Micheal laughed. Somebody called to him in English and he said, "Whoops, I gotta go help pack up! Listen, cool guy, if you want, you can probably catch me and the band at the restaurant Tofuya Ukai round seven. And tell your friends it's on me~" He waved and ran off to help his friends put equipment in their truck.

Conan looked at his watch. _It's about five o'clock now… that works out fine._ He ran back to Ran and Sonoko.

"Conan! Where were you?" Ran inquired sternly, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh, nowhere~ Just meeting the man that you two are fangirls for~" Conan smirked. Sonoko stared at him with her jaw to the floor.

"You met Micheal Dawes?!" Sonoko asked incredulously, running up to Conan and shaking his shoulders roughly. His glasses nearly fell of his face. "That's not fair! How come a brat like you gets to meet him? Totally unfair…"

"Well, he actually offered to take us to dinner with him and the band," Conan said through Sonoko's rambling.

"Are you serious?" Ran asked. "That's amazing! Where's the restaurant, Conan?"

Conan broke away from Sonoko and walked over to Ran. He looked up at her and said, "The Tofuya Ukai. It's a nice restaurant!"

"The Tofuya Ukai? That's really expensive… we can't afford that, Conan."

"It's okay! He says that he'll pay for it!"

Sonoko went to Ran and whispered in her ear, "We have to do this, Ran-chan! Imagine how jealous the other girls at school will be when we say 'We had dinner with ' The Swingin' Top Hats'!'"

"Well… alright. I don't see why not!" Ran agreed. "Let's go!"

* * *

Sonoko, Ran, and Conan went back to the Mouri Detective Agency to get some fancier clothing. They arrived at the Tofuya Ukai restaurant and walked through the gate. A waiter came up to the small ground and said, "Sonoko-sama and Ran-sama, I presume?" the waiter asked.

"Y-yes, that's us," Ran answered. Sonoko nodded as well. The waiter bowed and led the group to a long table in the back of the restaurant. The entire band of 'The Swingin' Top Hats' was seated at the table.

"Welcome, Sonoko-chan and Ran-chan!" Micheal said, standing up and smiling broadly. Ran and Sonoko squealed quietly. Micheal bowed deeply and said, "And welcome to you as well, cool kid!" He walked up to the group and extended his hand in greeting.

"W-wow… it's such a pleasure, Dawes-sama!" Sonoko stuttered. She shook his hand quickly and giggled. Ran also shook his hand.

"And I never asked your name, cool kid," Micheal said, sitting back in his seat. Conan, Sonoko, and Ran took their seats as well.

"My name is Conan Edogawa!" Conan replied. He looked at the other members of the band. There were only three others.

Micheal poured himself some sake and said, "Lemme introduce you to the band. You already know me, the lead singer." He pointed at the girl sitting next to him. "This is Maria Austin. She's our pianist, and she's my girlfriend~" He kissed her on the cheek and she laughed. She had dark brown hair and light green eyes. Micheal pointed to a taller man with brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses. "That's Greg Whitfield. He's our drummer."

"Nice ta meetcha, kids," Greg murmured, lifting his sake glass to the group and taking a drink.

"And finally our saxophone player and the man who brought us all together, Jeffery Hochauser!" Micheal laughed. An older man sat at the end of the table with graying black hair and gray eyes. He nodded to the group and drank some sake. "Please, guys, take a seat wherever you'd like!" said Micheal, gesturing towards the seats. Sonoko sat next to Micheal while Ran and Conan chose seats next to one another.

A waiter seemed to appear out of nowhere and asked, "What may I bring for you?" Ran and Sonoko ordered sodas and made sure Conan got water. After all, caffeine and children is a bad mix. Another waiter brought some sushi to the table as Jeffery stood up.

"I'm going to the bathroom; if the food comes, don't wait for me," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking off.

"He seems kind of down," Ran remarked as the older male disappeared behind a wall.

"Jeff's last day is today," Maria said, sipping some sake. She put the little cup down and drank some water; sake was not her favorite beverage. "He says he needs to move on from music and pursue a different career before he retires from the workforce completely."

"But this seems like a really good job! You get to tour around the world, meet a lot of people, and play music! Who wouldn't want to do that? Plus, my favorite American band can't split up!" Sonoko argued.

The American woman shrugged and continued, "It's not really up to me. Jeff said he wanted to retire, and Micheal allowed him to." At that time, Greg stood up and went the same way Jeff did.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, too. Be right back," he said.

"Yeesh, everyone's gotta take a wee, huh~?" Micheal chuckled. He tried to pick up some sushi with a pair of chopsticks, but he failed and picked it up with a fork instead.

_Man, talk about awkward. These Americans really have no idea how to use chopsticks or start a decent conversation,_ Conan thought, leaning back in his seat. Ran and Maria struck up a discussion on music and Sonoko started a one-sided talk with Micheal about how great he was. Micheal ignored her and got up, presumably to use the bathroom.

"Do you want to be a musician, Conan?" Maria asked. Conan laughed.

"I'm not really a musical guy. I wanna be… uh…" _Crap! What do little kids want to do in their future? I don't want to say that I want to be a detective… I'll pick the next closest thing!_ "I wanna be a policeman!" Conan said, making fake gun noises and waving his forefinger around as if it was a pistol. He accidentally knocked over his glass of water and it spilled all over the table.

"Oh! Conan!" Ran scolded. She picked up her napkin and soaked up some of the water with it. "Conan, please be more careful. And go get a rag!"

"O-okay! Sorry, Ran-nēchan!" Conan sprang to his feet and ran off to find a waiter. _Whoops~ My bad~_ He ran past the bathroom and heard a frightened shout. _What the hell?_ He went into serious Conan mode and dashed to the door and swung it open. Micheal was backed up against the wall, pointing wildly at the opposite wall. Conan looked up and narrowed his eyes. There was a man strung up in the light fixture, wires wrapping around his neck and arms. Several stab wounds covered his chest and stomach. It was Jeffery Hochauser.

* * *

Inspector Megure wrote in his notebook and said to his team of policemen, "The victim is Jeffery Hochauser. Age 51. American. He's part of 'The Swingin' Top Hats,' a popular swing band in America. The estimated time of death is 6:30 PM, death by asphyxiation and blood loss." He eyed four men. "There are four suspects in this case. Micheal Dawes (28), Greg Whitfield (28), Arata Kobayashi (37), and Hikaru Saito (30)." Arata was a skinny, little man with black hair and dark gray eyes. He fidgeted nervously. Hikaru was a tall, muscular man with blonde hair (he had dyed it months before) and light brown eyes. "We'll start the interrogation with Dawes-san."

"W-wait! I can't be a suspect!" Micheal protested. He shook his head so much it looked like his head might fall off.

"What? Why not?" Megure asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's simple, inspector!" Megure looked down to see Conan looking up at him. "Micheal-kun can't be a suspect because he discovered the body around 6:40, right?" Micheal nodded quickly.

"Eh… you're right, Conan. Then we'll start with Whitfield-san," Megure said, turning to Greg. "Tell us what you were doing around 6:30."

"I'd gotten up from my table cos I'd drank too much sake ta go ta the bathroom. I came in, took a piss, and headed back ta my table. What else do ya want ta know?" he stated dully.

_Ugh. He talks like Heiji. _"But, I didn't see you come back to the table," Conan said, looking up at the large American.

"I got lost."

Conan furrowed his brows and thought, _Somehow, I don't believe that. I'll listen to the other two and see what they have to say. _

"I-I had a long day at work, so I came to the bar," Arata stuttered. He pulled at his necktie and said, "I went to the bathroom because I had too much to drink, but I didn't kill him! I don't know who he is and I simply don't have the upper body strength to lift a weight, much less a man!" Megure nodded and turned to Hikaru.

"Hmph. I shouldn't have to deal with this crap… don't you people know who I am?" Hikaru grumbled. He pointed to his chest and declared, "Hikaru Saito! The guitarist for 'Flames of Hell'! You know who was supposed to be up on that stage at Tokyo Tower today?! Me and my band! Not some American bullshit!" He crossed his arms and growled, "Those bastards upstaged us, and we had to find some dump to play in!"

"You clearly have a motive for wanting to kill this man," Megure said, reaching for a pair of handcuffs in his pocket.

"Are you freaking stupid?! I may hate the guts of everyone in that damn band, but not to the point where I'd want to kill one of 'em!" Hikaru roared. He balled his fists.

"Huh. Well… tell me where you were at 6:30 this evening."

"Tch." Hikaru crossed his arms again and said a little calmer, "The band and I came here to blow the last of our money since we weren't making any anyway. They got pretty drunk and I came here to wash my face. Then I left the bathroom."

"Saito-san!" Conan said. Hikaru looked down with annoyance and growled. "You're pretty muscle-y. Why is that? I thought you were a guitar player!"

"I used to work in the construction business when I was in college," Hikaru mumbled. "And I guess I work out a lot."

Megure put his notebook in his coat pocket and crossed his arms. "Then you can say that you have enough strength to lift a man, wouldn't you?"

"W-well, yeah, but that doesn't prove anything!" Hikaru clenched his fists again and snarled, "How do you know that the American bastard didn't kill him, huh?! Prove that!"

"Jeff was my friend and fellow band-member. How dare ya accuse me of murderin' him!" Greg growled, advancing toward Hikaru. Megure stepped in between the two furious men.

"Come now! Stop acting like children!" he said icily. Hikaru and Greg turned their backs to each other, grumbling insults in English and Japanese.

_So… it's equally possible that Hikaru-san killed Jeff-san or Greg-san killed him. Arata-san seems unlikely because he has no grudge against Jeff-san… and he says he can't lift even light weights. Micheal-kun isn't a suspect because he discovered the body after the time of the murder. It's either Hikaru Saito or Greg Whitfield. Let's do some investigating…_ "Greg-san! What stall were you in?" Conan asked.

"I was in that one." Greg pointed to the second to last stall on the left.

"And what stall was Jeff-san in?"

"When I came in, he was in that stall," Greg said, pointing to the end stall on the right.

"Okay!" _The stall was locked from the inside, so there was no way the killer got in the door. _Conan walked up to the stall Jeff was in and pushed on it. It opened. _Jeff must have gotten out of the stall before… wait… _Conan went into the stall and looked at the door. It was slightly stained with blood, but there was no blood on the floor. The window behind the toilet was open as well. _… that means that the killer must have gotten in through the window, stabbed Jeff-san, and cleaned the blood off the door and ground. But, the killer didn't do a very good job cleaning the door… although to the untrained eye, this would look like just a normal rust stain. _Conan ran back out of the stall and went up to Hikaru.

"What do you want now, brat?!" Hikaru hissed.

"I just wanted to ask what stall you were in!"

Hikaru snorted and jabbed his thumb in the direction of the second to last stall on the right.

_So he was right next to Jeff-san. Things aren't looking very good for him…_

"Inspector! We searched Saito-san's bag, and we found this," one of the forensics team members said. He was holding a bloody kitchen knife in a plastic bag. Hikaru's jaw dropped.

"W-what?! That's not mine! I swear I haven't seen that knife before!" he cried.

"This is all the evidence I need. Cuff him," Megure ordered. Two officers nodded and put handcuffs on Hikaru's wrists.

_No, it's not him! Hikaru-san is not the killer!_ Conan thought, running over to Greg's stall and pushing on the door. Curiously enough, it was locked. _Ah? _The little detective slid underneath the door and noticed that the window was open. He poked his head out. A plastic bag sat outside, leaning up against the side of the building. _Aha~ Caught you~_ He ducked underneath the door and ran next to Micheal. Maria had come in and was fussing over the singer. _Sorry, Maria-san, I need to borrow your voice! _Conan took aim with his wristwatch and shot an invisible needle into her neck. She made an interesting sleepy noise and slid down the wall. Conan quickly changed his bowtie to match her voice.

"M-Maria? Are you okay?" Micheal asked, kneeling next to her.

"I'm just fine, Micheal. I think I've solved this case," Conan said with Maria's voice.

"What? Another Sleeping Kogorou…" Megure mumbled. "Alright, what have you got?"

"We all know that Arata-san is innocent because he's not strong enough to lift a human being and he had no grudge against Jeff-kun," Conan explained, "only Hikaru-san and Greg-kun have the ability to do that."

"Greg-kun…? Jeff-kun? Are you feeling alright, Maria?" asked a curious Micheal, raising an eyebrow.

_Crap! Maria wouldn't use honorifics to talk about people she knows!_ "I'm fine. I'm just using honorifics because we're in Japan, no?" Micheal nodded slowly and stayed quiet. "Okay, now it seems that Hikaru-san is the killer because the knife was found in his bag, but that's not the case."

"And why's that?" Megure asked.

"Check the bathroom door to Jeff-kun's stall." Megure shrugged and opened the door.

"What about it? There's only rust…" He examined the door closer and gasped. "This is blood!"

"Exactly. You then must assume that the killer climbed through the window and stabbed Jeff-kun there. From there he destroyed the light fixture and tied up Jeff-kun. The window wasn't open in Hikaru-san's stall," Conan said.

Megure frowned and replied, "He could have easily closed it…"

"That's right. That's what it seems. However, take a look at the ground outside the window." Megure did what he was told and looked out of the window.

"It's mud! There would have been mud on Hikaru-san's shoes!" Megure exclaimed. He walked over to Hikaru and examined his shoes. They were as clean as a whistle.

"Exactly. This means there's only one person that could have killed Jeff-kun," Conan said. He glanced around the corner at Greg and said in a sharp tone, "Greg Whitfield, you killed Jeff-kun. You ran around the building, climbed through the window, stabbed and killed him."

"Th-that's crazy. I would never kill my friend!" Greg shouted. He lifted his right foot and pointed at the soles of his shoes. "And look! I ain't got no mud on my shoes!"

Conan sighed and asked coolly, "Where are your other shoes?" Greg gulped.

"O-other shoes?"

"You weren't wearing that pair of shoes at dinner earlier. I noticed," Conan said. "Inspector Megure."

"Yes?" Megure looked at Maria expectantly.

"Would you please try to open Greg-kun's stall door?" Conan asked.

"Of course." Megure went to push the door open, but it didn't open. "What the…?" Megure slammed his shoulder into the door and grumbled, "It's locked from the inside!" He glared at the tall American. "Now why would that be?"

"U-uh…" Greg stuttered. He felt sweat roll down his forehead.

"Conan, would you please unlock this door?" Conan asked himself in Maria's voice. He ran out from behind the wall and said in his normal voice, "Sure!" He crawled under the door and unlocked it so it swung open. "You see, Inspector? The window here is open!" The little detective pointed at the window.

"It is!" Megure stuck his head out the window and spotted the grocery bag leaning against the building. He leaned back inside the bathroom and shouted, "You two officers! Get that bag next to this window!"

Two policemen saluted and ran outside. They got the bag and one of them called to the inspector, "There is a pair of shoes in this bag! Covered in mud!"

"That proves it then," Megure sighed. He walked over to Greg and handcuffed him.

"Greg… why would you do this?" Micheal asked in shock. Maria had come round and looked around sleepily.

"… I had ta, Micheal. Ya see… that bastard was goin' ta expose all yer secrets! From back in high school… ya remember? The gang ya were in… the things ya did!" Greg cried. "I couldn't let him do that! This band has been the greatest thing we've ever done… and I couldn't let him ruin that."

"I…" Micheal was dumbstruck. He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't care about any of that, Greg. What I did in the past is in the past. I have this life now: singing, playing music, traveling… I've got the girl of my dreams, even. I know serious critics will chew me out on what I did in high school, but that was years ago. My fans know me for who I am now," he said. He sighed after his speech and looked at Greg with sadness in his blue eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't have told you sooner."

Greg's tense shoulders sagged and he collapsed to his knees. "Dammit all… I'm such a damn fool… dammit… dammit, DAMMIT!" He slammed his fists into the ground. Tears filled his eyes and he cried. He was escorted out of the restaurant in a teary, sobbing mess into a police car. Conan narrowed his eyes.

_Damn… its cases like these that really can affect me. A murder out of spite that turns out to be a huge misunderstanding… _

* * *

A couple days later, Micheal and Maria showed up at the Mouri Detective Agency. "We wanted to say thanks for being there for us, but we need to get back to America. This whole ordeal is a bit too much," Micheal said sheepishly. He bowed awkwardly. Maria bowed, too. She was still confused about her sudden drowsiness at the crime scene and the police congratulating her on solving the case.

"It's really no trouble at all! We're sorry this had to happen," Ran said.

"So, is the band through?" Conan asked, looking expectantly at Micheal. He laughed.

"Nah, cool kid~ My love for music can't be shaken by this, as unfortunate as it was. You'll be seeing me again, but perhaps under a different band name~ A fresh new start!" Micheal said enthusiastically. Maria nodded and smiled at him lovingly.

"I agree~ Well, we better get going, Micheal. Our flight leaves soon," she said, tugging on his arm.

Micheal nodded and said, "Right! We'll be seeing you, Ran and Conan!" The couple waved as they walked off towards the train station. Ran and Conan waved back and the taller girl sighed.

"It's such a shame that something so terrible happened to them. But, I've got faith that they'll be okay!" Ran said to herself. She turned on her heels and went back inside.

Conan followed her and thought, _I agree with Ran. It's terrible that this had to happen to them… but they'll be fine. I know it. And fortunately enough, this is another case closed!_


End file.
